The FT highlights the pressures placed upon politicians when the election campaign finally screeches to a halt, the results come in, and finally - finally - they are given something to run.
Boris Johnson’s history going into the mayoralty suggested that he could handle running a small-ish magazine, a parliamentary office, and had developed something of a swagger in his role as Shadow Higher Education spokesman for the Tories. He was broadly judged to have been a success in each of these roles, though they were certainly not sufficient training to become Mayor of London.
Because of this, Mr Johnson’s decision to create a diverse group of Deputy Mayors and devolve many of his responsibilities and powers to them was both welcome and - in my opinion at least - wise. The loss of Ray Lewis has turned this opinion on its head.
Iain Dale, noted Tory blogger, has suggested that open confirmation hearings might be a solution to further such problems emerging. Perhaps he is right. Certainly a greater level of scrutiny is needed at City Hall.
Elected as an ‘anti-sleaze’ candidate, this has been a woeful episode for Mr Johnson.
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